London Underground back on track with capital works programme

London Underground's (LUL) delayed £2.8bn capital works programme has finally relaunched, with the first of nine major framework deals now up for grabs.

The programme will see between eight and 16 contractors delivering £450m of building and civils work over a five-year period. Contractors will work within four value bands ranging from: £3m to £10m £10m to £30m £30m to £60m and £60m to £100m.

This is the first of nine supplier frameworks that LUL intends to create to deliver its capital works programme, known as the Vendor Capital Programme (VCP).

London Underground started procurement on its first VCP supplier framework last July, but the collapse of Metronet brought it to a grinding halt. Last week, potential candidates were informed in a letter from LUL's acting head of procurement Alan Cummings that the tender process was on again.

Cummings put the seven-month delay down to "a variety of technical reasons". However, contractors cite the collapse of Metronet as the key factor for the delay.

One director told CJ: "It's been a long wait. We called every month and were told "next month". Finally it has restarted. The programme was hit by the collapse of Metronet. Key procurement staff were seconded to Metronet's administrator to help sort out the mess."

A list of potential bidders has already been selected by LUL via the Link Up Supplier Database, operated by Achilles Information. Bidders are asked to identify the size and number of value bands they want to be considered for on their prequalification forms. Tenders are due in by early April.

The VCP frameworks are modelled on LUL's five year Alternative Provider framework, set up in 2005 to deliver works outside the Tube PPP and to provide a benchmark for Tube contracts.

LUL declined to identify the pre-selected bidders. Likely contenders include Birse Metro, Morgan Est, Taylor Woodrow, YJL Infrastructure, Cleshar, Costain and Nuttall.

An LUL spokesman said further frameworks were in the pipeline. He added: "Work is ongoing to produce further frameworks to support the Vendor Capital Programme, which will build on the success of our current framework agreements. It is anticipated that these will be issued later this year."

All nine frameworks are expected to be let over the next 18 months.